Peace Pavilion for Sedhiou | Luca Ruggieri

Team:

Luca Ruggieri

Alessia Nicita

Federico Antonino Spina

Salvatore Maccarrone

THE IDEA OF THE PROJECT
The project for the peace pavilion aims to become a new center of
reference for the city of Sedhiou, both citizen and territorial. The
project wants to become a junction element able to mediate the
different languages, regulating at the same time the interior spaces in
a harmonious whole both from an aesthetic and functional point of
view. The new volume must be able to accommodate different
activities, ensuring a considerable degree of flexibility. The project area
is characterized by the fact that it contains a double soul. On one side
it turns towards the road and on the other towards the Casamance
river. Occupying an angular position the building is oriented to take
into account the dominance of the winds. The project involves two
spaces, one external: the square, the meeting place, which has the
task of meditating the relationship between place, people and
community; and a more intimate and private interior, to remember
and pray for the victims of war and to sensitize the new generations.
The square is charged with a meaning aimed at the search for a
collective space, but at the same time it also becomes a space of
suspension and boundary. The building is divided into three main
areas, a contemplation space, an exhibition space and an awareness
area, and two smaller areas for offices and storage. The services are
located in a more secluded position than the building. The new
volume aims to establish a relationship with the context, in fact it
consists of materials conceptually accepted by the local culture. The
project takes advantage of the stereometry of the stones to define the
space through walls. The compact volume can be drilled to modulate
the light inside the pavilion and at the same time guarantee the
ventilation of the spaces. The project pays attention to the correct
ventilation of the rooms and for this reason the roof is detached from
the masonry with beams. Another aims of the project is the recovery of
rainwater through a storage tank into which the water coming from
the roof flows. The project includes a pool in which the rainwater
storages when it rains, but when it doesn’t rain the space can be used
by people to sit around it and spend their time.
The surface of the building in plan covers 294 m2.
The entrance to the building is through a ramp that leads to a covered
space where the various areas of the pavilion are located. The first
space to be accessed is the exhibition space (50 m2), a bright space,
usable and equipped, which embraces and links the different areas,
opening up to different functions and uses. Next to it are located the
two spaces for contemplation (38 m2) and awareness (48 m2). The first,
to the north, opens towards the river bank with a brise-soleil that filters
the light and guarantees space ventilation. The second, to the south,
was conceived as a classroom space to allow the carrying out of
awareness-raising activities. One of the most important functional
characteristics of the new building, in addition to the rationality of the
spatial and distributive organization described above, is its flexibility;
flexibility understood as the intrinsic capacity of the building itself to be
able to be administered and managed in an extremely simple way.
The linear aggregation, the distribution of the spaces and the
technologies used are such as to guarantee an adaptability of the
interior spaces.
The project was conceived joining to the main criteria of
environmental sustainability. The entire construction is configured as an
organism that finds its collocation in respect of places and existing
structures.